Week 10

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Chordograms

Chordograms

These figures depict the chord progressions from three tracks within the corpus. All three tracks exhibit minimal variation in chord structure throughout. In the electro track, no singular chord prominently stands out in contrast to other genres. However, in the house track, it is evident which chords are emphasized. When listening to the track, the distinct chords are clearly audible. These findings reinforce the notion that the electronic music genre tends to feature simpler chord progressions. In my opinion, this figure isn’t particularly suitable for electronic music, as tracks within this genre often remain within a single chord region and prioritize percussion and repetitive basslines.

Keygrams

Keygrams

These figures illustrate the key progressions of three tracks within the corpus. Each track displays minimal variation in chord structure, with the minimal track exhibiting slightly more variation compared to the others, yet still maintaining stability. This further emphasizes the tendency of electronic music to feature simpler key progressions. In my view, this figure may not be well-suited for electronic music analysis, given that tracks in this genre often remain within a single chord region and emphasize percussion and repetitive basslines.

Introduction

Introduction

Corpus explanation: My corpus’s main category is electronic music, having subgenres as: Electro, House, Minimal. The corpus currently consists of 1127 tracks, where there are 441 electro tracks, 153 house tracks, and 503 minimal tracks. I’ve chosen this corpus since I am an electronic music producer and a DJ and are mainly focused on unheard underground records from the house spectrum ranging between 1980 till 2005. Most of the tracks which are currently present in my corpus are remastered versions of vinyl records from that region. Many people often state that House music is a boring repetitive genre, but I am clearly convinced that House music offers a large scale of unique musical compositions to the music catalogue. Similar albums, artists, and people are unique within the corpus. The main similarity is (hopefully) in its audio data and arrangement of the tracks. The gaps between the genres are relative. The gap between the Electro genre and a completely different genre such as Indie would be larger compared to the gap between the Acid genre and the Electro genre. But I am unsure how large the gap between House and Electro will be within my corpus. The tracks currently in the corpus are representative to their genres. The qualities of the tracks could differ since they originate from different years, so they had different recording software. Also some tracks are remastered or digitised throughout the years. So there is a distinction between the quality of the tracks. Some tracks in the corpus have a really low BPM (around 60) compared to other main BPM (129) in the corpus. These are really ambient-like tracks instead of more house-alike tracks. Several tracks from “Craig Richards” are really experimental, abstract, industrial tracks which could be seen as atypical tracks. Typical tracks are the standard popular house tracks within the corpus such as “Schatrax - Keep on Live (Original Mix)”.

Week 9

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Cepstrograms

Cepstrograms

These figures depict the cepstrograms of three tracks within the corpus. In the house track, a stable pattern is evident, with a noticeable build-up around 165 seconds. Towards the outro, there’s a shift towards more percussion and less harmony. The minimal track exhibits constant fluctuations, attributed to its repetitive melody. Around 210 seconds, there’s a discernible build-up primarily driven by percussion. In the electro track, clear repetitions are noticable, with the beginning of the track almost duplicated after 120 seconds, a common characteristic in electronic music.

Self-Similarity Matrices

Self-Similarity Matrices

These figures display the Self-Similarity Matrices of three tracks within the corpus. In the house track, the build-up around 165 seconds is clearly visible. Additionally, numerous subtle changes are apparent, possibly indicating shifts in percussion, a characteristic of Julien Alexander’s production style. In the minimal track, constant fluctuations are observed, stemming from its repetitive melody. The previously noted build-up around 210 seconds is less pronounced, but both the intro and outro are clearly depicted in this figure. In the electro track, the repetition in organization is evident.

Week 8

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Chromagrams

Chromagrams

These figures present the chromagrams of three tracks from the corpus. In the house track, a less consistent pattern is noticeable, with clear changes in structure throughout the track. Two bridges and build-ups are evident, along with a longer outro compared to the intro. In the minimal track, a distinct static repetitive structure is visible, reaffirming the characteristic of minimal house music. Similarly, in the electro track, repetition is evident, with two bridges around 40 and 140 seconds, and an outro around 215 seconds that alters the energy of the track.

Dynamic Time Warping

Dynamic Time Warping

These visuals exhibit the dynamic time warping of three tracks from the corpus.

Week 7

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Tempo analysis

Tempo analysis

This figure depicts a boxplot with the x-axis representing the categories of the Corpus and the y-axis representing the tempo of the tracks in beats per minute (BPM). Notably, the tempo for the electro category surpasses that of the remaining categories. The mean tempo for electro is around 135 BPM, whereas for the other categories, it remains close to 125 BPM. Both categories exhibit tight clustering around their respective means. Additionally, the plots reveal the presence of outliers, underscoring the distinct stylistic attributes inherent to each genre. This observation representing to the unique characteristics defining the genres, offering valuable insights into their individual musical styles.

Duration analysis

Duration analysis

This figure presents a boxplot, with the x-axis representing the categories of the Corpus and the y-axis representing the duration of the tracks. Notably, the electro category exhibits shorter durations compared to the other categories. Conversely, the minimal category displays less condensation than the others, demonstrating a higher variance and containing numerous outliers. This divergence underscores the distinct stylistic attributes inherent to each genre, offering intersting insights into their respective characteristics.